PC Engine

天の声バンク (Ten no Koe Bank) is not a video game. It is not a manga. It is not a hybrid of the two. It is not a Big Mac and chips. 天の声バンク (Ten no Koe Bank) is an accessory that was released for the NEC PC Enginevideo game console in 1991. The PC Engine console was not afforded a great deal of on-board memory, and managing save games was a problem that quickly required addressing.

It’s a rainy, dreary Saturday here in Ireland today. I figured I would spend my morning setting up a video capture rig and begin transferring some of my prized video cassettes and Laserdiscs to digital format for safe keeping. I dug out a box that holds my small, but perfectly formed collection of cassettes and began filing through to select what to record first. A petite cardboard slipcase was snuggled in between a couple of Gamest DoDonpachi cassettes, I reached in and dug it out to reveal some glorious artwork by Masamune Shirow. What I had retrieved was a promotional cassette tape for Lords of Thunder (Japanese title:Winds of Thunder/ウィンズ オブ サンダー ). With a runtime of just 7 minutes, I figured this would be an ideal cassette to capture first and so I popped in the tape, hit record and settled in to watch this short video.

The weather in Ireland has been bloody dreadful the past few weeks. Every morning I awake in darkness. The orange tangy glow of the really annoying streetlight just outside our bedroom window filters through, stinging my eyes like chopping a particularly ferocious looking chilli pepper and then automatically (and stupidly) rubbing your eye. Rain lashes against the window almost daring you to venture outside if you’re brave enough.